Ghost Face Killah: beer so hot it hurts

Slow burn

Justin Tilotta boxes up bottles of Ghost Face Killah beer. The beer is made with ghost chilis at Twisted Pine Brewery.
(CLIFF GRASSMICK)

Twisted Pine president Bob Baile and a few members of the brewery's staff are huddled around a half-dozen small glasses on the Ale House bar, intently scrutinizing each one.

"It's still not hot enough," Baile says. "Let's add more peppers."

He squeezes a few drops through a coffee filter and hands the glass to cook Jayson DeBellis, who takes a sip.

His eyes glisten. His cheeks bloom speckled crimson. You can almost see the heat slowly radiate through his body.

"That's the reaction we're looking for!"

To be fair, Twisted Pine's Ghost Face Killah, a beer the brewery has submitted to Guinness World Records as the hottest on the planet, is not the immediate, throat-clenching, lips-on-fire heat of say taking a swig of Dave's Insanity Sauce. It's more of a lingering slow burn that creeps deep into your chest after the initial, very flavorful taste of fresh chili peppers and biscuit begins to fade.

It's true that Ghost Face Killah is not for the "tepid of tongue," as the bottle warns, but, since Twisted Pine first released the limited-edition beer in its Ale House last year, it's developed a strong local following among aficionados of hot and spicy foods. The brewery bottled 140 cases of Ghost Face Killah this year for distribution throughout Colorado and at the brewery. It will be sold in single, 12-ounce bottles.

The culprit behind the intense heat is Bhut Jolokia, a chili pepper that originated in northeast India and is more commonly known as the ghost pepper. It's among the world's hottest naturally grown chili peppers and rates more than three times higher than a habañero on the Scoville scale. The Indian army uses Bhut Jolokia to make pepper spray, which has resulted in a worldwide scarcity. That's right, the ghost pepper has military applications.

Twisted Pine sources its ghost peppers in dried form and adds the sliced peppers to tanks of its Billy's Chilies beer, which itself is brewed with five verities of fresh chili peppers, including jalapeños, serranos and habañeros. Although brewers wear two pairs of surgical gloves to handle the ghost peppers, Baile says it's best to wait for a nice day when they can open the brew house doors to keep the fumes from overwhelming eyes and throats.

"The market for chili beers has really grown," says Baile. "I don't know it it's a cult following or what, but there's a segment of the population that loves hot food and for them you really can't get it hot enough."

Ghost Face Killah beer
(CLIFF GRASSMICK)

The idea for Ghost Face Killah came from taking Billy's Chilies to beer festivals, including the Snowmass Chili Pepper & Brew Fest in Aspen/Snowmass.

"People would taste it and say, 'This is great, but do you have anything hotter?'" says Baile. "So we kicked it up a notch but people were still asking for a hotter beer. That's when we discovered the ghost peppers."

The name came from a staff brainstorming session and is ostensibly based on a character from a 1970 kung-fu flick known as the "Mystery of Chess Boxing," a movie that no doubt also inspired rapper Ghostface Killah, a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Baile has spoken with representatives from the Wu-Tang Clan in recent days and says they're thrilled to help promote the beer. Twisted Pine is sending the group a case of Ghost Face Killah.

The Wu-Tang connection has also helped garner interest from several hip-hop blogs and on the websites of the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone magazine.

But while the extra attention around the novelty of Ghost Face Killah is appreciated, Baile says the beer really speaks to Twisted Pine's philosophy of giving its brewers free rein to express their creativity through a wide variety of flavor-forward beers.

"It's all about having a good time," he says. "And if we can make a wacky beer that people really enjoy, that's great."

Also of note: Interested in homebrewing? Join the Indian Peak Alers, Longmont's homebrew club, on Saturday for Big Brew Day, an annual event promoted by the American Homebrewers Association. The club will begin brewing at 8 a.m. with a pancake breakfast, and continue throughout the day with a potluck lunch, a demonstration on wort chillers, and other presentations on brewing. Guests are invited to bring their own brewing equipment and ingredients to join in, or just enjoy "hanging out around beer people" and learning about the craft. The event will be held at Stark Solutions, 225 Price Rd #47 in Longmont, just east of Left Hand Brewing Company. Visit indianpeaksalers.org for more information.

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